Please give me advice, DAT taken today

[panacea2012]

Hello, I just finished my DAT an hour ago and need your advice.
Score:
PAT 21
QR 26
RC 19
BIO 21
GC 22
OC 19

TS 21
AA 21

I really wish that all of those numbers could be 20 and above. Reading is my weakest point because English is not my first language. Don't know what happened to organic chemistry....
My question is: how bad it is to have the two '19's despite having an average of 21? Should I retake if I want to get into the dental schools in California (esp. UCSF or UOP)?

I'm a non-traditional applicant with a master degree. SDN is my single best source of information about DAT (don't know anyone in person who's preparing as well), so Thank you for any thoughts!

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[kingenamel]

I dont think you need to retake. 21/21/21 is a solid score

 

[1Overdrive]

Dude, those are amazing scores. RC is not highly valued at all in the admissions process. What really matters is that you have 20+ on AA/TS and at least a 19 on PAT, with some variation between a few dental schools. You do not at all need to retake it, you did really well.

 

[Futuredentguy2015]

breakdown please?!

 

[DogeDDS]

Relaaaax. 21/21/21 is a fine score, above average for most schools based on 2013. As long as your GPA is decent and you have ECs, you should be good.

Edit: I have heard that UCSF and UoP do tend to place high emphasis on DAT scores so you might want to get comfortable with the idea of applying elsewhere.

 

[customx]

RC is not highly valued at all in the admissions process.

Where did you hear that? RC is actually an important score

 

[LFA20]

Where did you hear that? RC is actually an important score

not in my case.. (17). Still got 8 interviews...

 

[customx]

Just because you got 8 interviews doesn't mean it's not important. To say it's not highly valued isn't true. It's not up there with AA and PAT but it's not completely irrelevant either

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[panacea2012]

Dude, those are amazing scores. RC is not highly valued at all in the admissions process. What really matters is that you have 20+ on AA/TS and at least a 19 on PAT, with some variation between a few dental schools. You do not at all need to retake it, you did really well.

Thanks a lot!

 

[panacea2012]

breakdown please?!

I have an international trip tomorrow. Will do the breakdown when I come back. I learned so much here and would love to share my experience.

 

[panacea2012]

Relaaaax. 21/21/21 is a fine score, above average for most schools based on 2013. As long as your GPA is decent and you have ECs, you should be good.

Edit: I have heard that UCSF and UoP do tend to place high emphasis on DAT scores so you might want to get comfortable with the idea of applying elsewhere.

Thanks! I just found on SDN that the average DAT score for UCSF is about 20-21, it is indeed quite high. Hopefully my master degree in public health can help me and I will apply for other schools as well.

 

[distressstudent]

When ranked by DAT score on AA and PAT, UCSF and UoP are both ranked near the fifth place (both have an average of 21/21/21). Your scores are great but that's just something to keep in mind. I never talked to any adcom from UoP before, but UCSF would definitely value your masters in public health.

 

[clutchfans]

Dude, you're set

 

[SmileDesignersDDS]

Damn your QR was so high what did you use?

 

[Toadesque]

Just because you got 8 interviews doesn't mean it's not important. To say it's not highly valued isn't true. It's not up there with AA and PAT but it's not completely irrelevant either

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It depends on the school. But for the most part RC is really important. On the other hand some schools don't really care about PAT much

 

[mkhan27]

I wish I had those scores, then I wouldn't have to worry about studying this summer to re-take it. In my opinion a 21 is a great score (anything above 20 is). I think you'll be good!

 

[LFA20]

Just because you got 8 interviews doesn't mean it's not important. To say it's not highly valued isn't true. It's not up there with AA and PAT but it's not completely irrelevant either

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My AA and TS is only 19. Also my PAT is 18. By the way PAT is definitely NOT important. As long as you make the cut off (17) you're fine..(I have seen people gotten accepted to great schools like penn, columbia with under 20 PAT). I honestly dont understand why people worry so much when they get one score below 20 or if their AA is not over 20. LOOK at the average accepted DAT scores for most schools. Almost 90% of them are at 20...

I can assure you from going through the application cycle that your GPA is much more important than DAT scores...